Quote:
Originally Posted by InOmnibusCaritas
The reason, of course, is that LSMers believe that there are no such thing as a non-LSM church.
Even from an LC purist (Neeistic) point of view, which I still somewhat subscribe, a denominational congregation is, at best, a sect within the local church. The view that denominationalism is a fundamental ecclesiological error in itself is hard to dispute. But when this is coupled with the view that we, the few the proud, are the one true local expression of the church, an air of superiority is inevitable even for the most level-headed.
Nee's vision of the local church is actually quite an interesting model for ecclesiological polity. To put it into practice, however, is not so simple. Nee's experiment was bound to fail - the parameters were not right. Instead of advancing the idea of a local church that is inclusive of all believers within the locality, LCs have created a most sectarian ecclesiastical ecosystem.
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Nee's model, though I clinged tightly to it for years, had some serious flaws ...
What identifies a denomination? I once thought that the
name did it all. Upon further consideration, I concluded that the single most defining criteria for a denomination is its controlling headquarters. Think Jerusalem, Rome, Anaheim.
Since Nee's model includes a para-church structure called "the work," which is ruled by the senior worker, a ruling hierarchy is immediately established.
Nee assaulted the clergy-laity system as a cure all for the church body life. Problem is the Bible itself identifies elders and deacons for every church.
Several verses rebut Nee's one-church-one-city model. Acts 9.31, Rom 16.5, and Col 4.15-16 come to mind.
Nee's demands that every elder must have apostolic appointment will by nature guarantee the loss of localism, as in local church. Nee's demands that every city have only one set of elders creates an unwieldy bureaucracy quenching the Spirit of God.
Nee's brand of oneness stresses a common judgment of evil, which evil is determined solely by the leading worker. The oneness of the N.T. however is the oneness of the Spirit. The phrase "in all things charity" has
always been absent in these exclusive systems.
Perhaps Lee had some noble intention to implement Nee's ecclesiastic polity when first coming to the US, but those intentions had vanished completely starting in 1974 and ending in 1985.